Betrayal of a Rose: The Last Rose
by JayRayGee
Summary: A decade after the events at the Vytal Festival took place that left a star studded student dead with her name tarnished, her killer still roams free. However, as people break their silence and begin to voice their opinions, will The Grim Reaper still be seen as a heartless monster, or just someone caught on the wrong side of the story?
1. Chapter 1: TV Interview

_Click. Click. Click. _The sound of channel being flipped on a small TV occupies the small room it's being held in. A few more clicks later and the beginning of an evening news shows begins.

"_Good evening Remnant, I'm Reo Krancus for Remnant Evening News."_ The anchorman said as the camera quickly zoomed in from a wide shot to a close shot. "_Our top story: The Hunt for the Grim Reaper. It's been 7 days since the so-called Grim Reaper attacked a killed rising athlete and huntsman Pyrrha Nikos in front of millions of viewers tuned into the Vytal Festival. Yet still so many questions remain. Like how did The Grim Reaper get passed security and onto the battlefield so easily? Where did The Grim Reaper run off to and how has she avoided capture so far? What did Pyrrha Nikos do to upset this person? And who exactly is Ruby Rose, the girl behind the mask? To answer these questions we have our team of field agents out searching for clues. We have Annalee at the Rose household trying to get answers from her family, Sora located at the last place The Grim Reaper was seen, and Chrisy at the Nikos property trying to get answers from the family. But first we cut to Rantonio, located at the floating coliseum where he is digging into the security breach. Rantonio?"_

"_Thanks, Reo." _The man answered, standing near the hovercraft landing bay. _"It has in that stadium right behind me 7 days ago that millions of people watched in horror as a bright up and coming star was slaughtered, almost for the enjoyment of the murderer. And while we now know the answer to how she got in an around security, two question still remain: How did she overpower them so easily, and why wasn't the feed cut?_

Right as the live feed cut to pre-recorded clips, the previously thought live broadcast was fast-forwarded, showing that the news broadcast was pre-recorded. The person fast-forwarding the recording stopped right as the feed cut back to the man behind the desk.

"_Thanks Rantonio. Now we go to Annalee, who is at the Rose household, trying to get answers to how and why this seemingly innocent younger girl turned into Remnants most wanted criminal. Annalee?"_

"_Thanks, Reo." _Said the younger field agent, who was standing on the Xiao Long front lawn. _"We've been out here since Day 1 trying to get answers from the father and sister of Miss Ruby Rose. So far, they have stayed within their home, mainly for their own safety and privacy and only leaving or letting people in when they need groceries, or the police come by."_

"_Miss Xiao Long! Miss Xiao Long! Miss Xiao Long!" _The horde of news men and women crowded around Yang as she came from Beacon shouted at her. _"Two days ago, Miss Xiao Long returned home from Beacon after being released from police custody following intensive questioning to make sure she didn't have any part in the murder of Miss Nikos. Since then, she hasn't made a re appearance and neither has her father." _Annalee voiced over as pre-recorded clips of the Xiao Long household were played. _"It was at this home that Ruby Rose, now known as the Grim Reaper, raised from birth by her father and older half-sister following the death or her mother"_

The clip was once again fast-forwarded, but for a shorter period this time.

"_Thank you, Annalee. Joining us now is Dr. Kranly, a child and teen behavioral expert. Now Dr., what was set someone off like this, wanting to kill and murder other people?" _The news anchor asked.

"_Well there are a number of reasons," _The Dr. replied. _"Anything from childhood trauma to a warped mindset. Now while it is early in the investigation, my best guess to how this happened was the death of her mother. It is in my opinion that the death of her role model caused a small tear between reality and what she wanted to happen to form and all it took was a minor inconvenience and set her off…"_

The recording was stopped suddenly and the remote was tossed across the room, landing on a small chair.

Yang was standing up, her back to the TV and her eyes blood red from anger. She shut her eyes and covered them with one hand before exhaling sharply. When she removed her hand and opened her eyes again, they were back to their purple lilac color. Yang sat back down in the chair facing the TV and threw her head back in anguish, once against exhaling sharply. She looked back towards the TV and saw the still image of the doctor on the screen. There was a small bit of text in the top left corner that simply read _Seven Day. _She looked back towards the doctor and became a little bit angry again.

_Oh, I'm sorry. I guess the ATTEMPTED MURDER is just a "minor inconvenience" to you?! _Yang thought to herself before getting up from the chair and retrieving the remote. Once found on the chair, she hit the _MENU _button. This shrank the current recording and brought up a folder full of similarly named news broadcastings and special reports. Yang scrolled down the list, debating whether to watch another one.

_Seven Day_

_One Month_

_Six Months_

_One Year_

_Two Years_

_Three Years_

_Five Years_

Yang scrolled past them all before deciding to just turn off the TV. Once the TV was off, she turned on the ceiling fan light in her room and glanced at the clock near her bed. It read 9:43 a.m. She sighed. _Why did I make this the first thing I did today? _She thought to herself. She then glanced around the small room. There was the TV near the door, a recliner-type chair in front of it, another smaller chair in the corner, a queen-sized bed near the single window that was covered by some blinds, although light was streaming in through the sides and a calendar next to the small closet. She focused her attention towards the small calendar. It was a new calendar, only having a few days marked off in January. Yang remembered she hadn't marked today off so she could tell it was January 5th.

Looking down the calendar a bit, Yang noticed that January 23rd was circled with red marker. There was also some writing within the circle and although she already knew what it said, she still walked over to it to look at it again. The red writing on the date simply read _10__th__ Anniversary_. Yang still couldn't believe that it had been almost 10 years since she last saw Ruby. Although she thought she saw glimpses of her in the trees or in the distance, it had been nearly 10 years since she had a conversation or at least said a word to her.

She thought back to the last 10 years and how it passed by so fast. It helped that the first few years, her and her dad were under the shroud of the media surrounding their involvement and connection to Ruby. Then, even after the media involvement died down, they were still targets by those who saw Ruby as a terrorist. It took until Taiyang went on record for the 5-year anniversary special report for their names to be cleared. Yang hated that they had to "clear their names." They were family of Ruby, and they basically had to disown her to have a normal life again.

By this point, Yang was now 22 and she began to think about moving out. She took up a huntsman for hire job and started saving money from this job to buy a small house on Patch since nearly everyone on the island felt bad for her and her father and she felt like they were all family in some way, so she felt safe there. It took about four years of saving to get a small house on the North end of the island. It was here that she'd been living for the last eight months. She had visited her father almost 3 times a week since she moved out and kept in close contact with him when she was out on missions.

She glanced back at the clock. Only about 2 minutes has passed so Yang decided to get some breakfast. She opened her bedroom door and took a quick walk to the kitchen. The house she lived in was on the small side. It had just two bedrooms and a single bathroom, with the kitchen, living room and dining room all bleeding together at the front of house. There was a door in the corner of the kitchen that led to a small covered patch of driveway where Yang kept her bike. They were two large windows on either side of the front door, one in each bedroom, a tiny one in the bathroom and another small one above the sink in the kitchen.

Yang didn't feel like cooking a fancy breakfast, so she just decided to have a bowl of cereal. She got the box of cereal off the top of the fridge and subsequently grabbed the half gallon of milk from the fridge and laid them both out on the small dining room table. However, when she went to get the bowl and spoon, there was a knock at the front door. She glanced over at the window next to the door and saw a man holding a large camera in one hand and a tripod in the other.

Yang sighed and threw her head back. She knew who they were and what they wanted. She thought about not opening the door and pretending she wasn't but realized that they had seen her bike in the driveway, so they knew she was home. Yang sighed again and approached the door, checking the window again to make sure her assumption was correct.

There was a nicely dressed woman who Yang instantly recognized, out in front, right next to the door. On her left was the man Yang has seen from the kitchen holding the camera at his side. On her right was yet another camera man, however he has his camera over his shoulder and Yang could assume he was recording.

Yang opened the front door, still in her pajamas, her hair still a mess, and still holding her bowl and spoon.

"Sup Annalee." Yang said, casually.

"Oh, hello Miss Xiao Long." Annalee said professionally. Annalee had covered The Grim Reaper story since day one and had always been assigned to cover and report on what Yang and her family was doing and how they were involved. However, she seemed to care the most for them. She never berated them or threatened them for a story. She was always nice and courteous to them and understood when they didn't want to talk. Yang hated her the least and would even call her somewhat of an acquaintance. She had done the one year and five-year anniversary for the Remnant Late Night News. "Did I wake you up?" She asked.

"First of, you can all me Yang. Secondly, nah, I've been awake for a while." Yang replied.

Annalee chuckled a bit. "Alright Yang. You can probably guess why we are here."

"Well, the 10-year anniversary, you've already done an interview with my dad, and if my memory is correct, I've never gone on record and stated my side of the story." Yang said with a smirk.

"Well, it seems like you've kept your smarts after all these years…" Annalee began.

"I'll do it." Yang said suddenly and sternly.

This caught Annalee and her small news team off guard. "Really?" She asked.

"Yeah. I need to get my side of the story out there." Yang said.

"Alright then. We got more stuff in the van. Mind if we come in?" She asked.

"Yeah just set it up in the living room. I gotta shower and eat before this thing though." Yang said, inviting them in and turning around to set down her bowl. Annalee told the camera man holding the camera on his shoulder to go grab some stuff from the van and the other one to come inside with her and set up the camera. When they walked inside, Yang was at the table eating her bowl of cereal.

"Oh, is that Pumpkin Pete's…" Annalee asked before stopping herself. Yang stopped eating and shot her a glare. "Sorry." She said, turning her head. Yang just went back to eating.

/

Annalee was applying a bit of powdered makeup to Yang's face. "Trust me," she said, "this'll help you look prettier on camera." Yang was never really a makeup person and never really understood the need for it at parties or for going out. However, she did see why it was needed on TV. She still didn't like it though.

"Reon. Are all the cameras operational?" Annalee asked.

"All good." Reon replied. Yang had learned he was the one that had the camera over his shoulder.

"How about the lighting and sound, Riku?" Annalee said as she finished up Yang's makeup.

"No problems here." Riku responded. He had been the other camera man with Annalee and was mainly the equipment man on set.

"Alright Yang. This is how this is gonna work." Annalee began. "This camera right behind me is the main camera. This is where most of the footage is coming from. The one to your left, my right, is going to be solely for dramatic and close up shots. And this one," Annalee turned and pointed to a camera behind her that was further back than the main one, "that's the wide angle one. I don't think I need to go over the lighting and mics and that kind of stuff, correct?"

"Yeah you don't have to. Seems pretty straight forward." Yang replied.

"Cool, so this is how the interview is going to go: I'm going to start with some basic questions so just in case the audience forgot about you, they can remember. Then we'll get into the more nitty-gritty stuff and that will be the bulk of it. If at any point you need a break or want to skip a question, just say so."

"That works for me." Yang said.

"Okay, first question: What's your name, age, and relation to Ruby?" Annalee began, switching into a pure professional attitude.

"My name is Yang Xiao Long. I'm 27 years old, and I am the half-sister to Ruby Rose." Yang stated.

"And how are you her half-sister?" Annalee asked.

"Same dad, different mom." Yang replied, trying to be as professional as possible.

"So what do you do for a living?" Annalee asked, glancing down at her page of notes.

"I'm a sort of huntsman for hire. I mainly take on escorting jobs, but I will do the occasional Search and Destroy." Yang replied.

"And what do you do for fun when you're not working?" Annalee continued.

Yang stopped and thought for a second. When she wasn't working, she usually trained or re-watched one of the Grim Reaper specials. All her friends either left her after the attack, were dead, gone, or too busy to hang out.

"I usually just train or watch TV." Yang replied, dumbing down her answer.

"Okay cool. Now we're going to get into the more in-depth questions. Remember, if there's any question that you feel is too personal, just say so and we'll skip it." Annalee said. Yang just nodded in agreement. "Okay then. First, let's go back to that day of the attack. Just go through the entire day."

Yang took a second before responding. "Well, it was a pretty normal day. It had been a couple months since Ruby had been presumed dead and it was still fresh in my mind. I was still trying to get over it and the fact that there was a big fight at the Vytal Festival was helping me out. The fight was between JNPR and SSSN, both teams I knew so I remember I was having a problem figuring out who to route for."

"When you got to the stadium, was there any sign of something might go wrong or there was something amidst?" Annalee asked.

"No," Yang answered, softly shaking her head. "Nothing seemed out of place. There was heightened security surrounding the whole event, but it was like the day previous. We got off the airship and headed towards the arena, grabbed some food, and took our seats. There was no sense of danger or worry in the crowd, just normal excitement for the upcoming matches."

"And who was with you that day?"

"It was me and my friend/teammate Weiss and joining us was Jaune and Ren from JNPR. They were close friends." Yang explained.

"When I looked online for your team information, it said there were four of you. You, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Blake Belladonna. Why wasn't Blake with you that day? Was she not feeling well?" Annalee asked.

"Blake had fled the night before because Ruby had threatened her." Yang said.

"Why had Ruby threatened her?" Annalee asked curiously.

"Because she was involved with the plot to kill my sister. She had distracted me and everyone else just long enough so Pyrrha could make her move. Why Ruby didn't just kill her I don't know. Maybe she thought Blake felt bad or maybe she didn't want to cause suspicion." Yang explained.

"Wow, okay. Now when your sister first made her appearance on the field, did you know it was her?" The reporter asked.

"No. Not even a clue. In fact, I believe I felt scared or maybe even terrified. In my mind, there was no reason for her to even be there except to kill. So when I saw her come out onto the field, I thought we were all dead." Yang recalled.

"And when you did find out it was you sister…" Annalee began.

"I was shocked. This person who I had come to know as a cold-hearted killer was my precious sister." Yang interrupted.

"Now when Ruby explained Pyrrha had tried to kill her, there was an outburst from you in the stands." The reported stated. "Was that just…"

"It was purely reactionary. I had never felt that angry before in my life and still to this day it was the angriest I've been." Yang said with a half-smile.

"Now, moving on, after the fight and after Ruby had fled the arena, you and Weiss made your way up towards your dorm room. Did you know Ruby was going to go there?" Annalee asked.

"No, I didn't know for certain she was going to be there, but I had a hunch she might there." Yang said.

"Now on the official report, when you two arrived at the room, she attacked you and fled, correct?" Annalee asked, reading off a piece of paper that appeared to be a police report.

"No, that's not what happened at all." Yang said with confidence.

"Really? So what did happen?" She asked.

"When we got to the room, she did have her weapon pointed at me, but upon realizing it was me, she lowered it and embraced me and then eventually Weiss." Yang explained.

"But why did she have her weapon pointed at you?" Annalee asked.

"My best guess is that she heard us coming and thought we here the police." Yang said.

"Alright." Annalee said. "Anything else happen?"

"We talked for about, I would say, five minutes, before we all heard approaching footsteps. At this point we all knew it was the police. Ruby went to leave but I tried to stop her." Yang began to explain.

"Why did you try to stop her? Where you trying to make sure she faced justice?" Annalee asked.

"No. At the time I was 18 and thought that if she just came home than everything would go back to normal. I think at the time I knew that wasn't true, but I just didn't want to believe it." Yang said, beginning to tear up slightly.

"Need a moment?" Annalee asked.

"No, I'm good." Yang replied, wiping away the tears.

Annalee nodded, then resumed asking Yang questions. "What happened after you tried to stop her from leaving?"

"At first, she tried to explain that if she stayed then she'd probably die or even if we all managed to escape, then our entire family would have to go into hiding. She explained that it was better for her just to go into hiding by herself. The whole time she's explaining this, she's grabbing bandages and food and other supplies before hopping onto the window sill in order to leave. However, when she went to leave, I grabbed her foot and tried to hold her back, I guess in an attempt to salvage the family. It was at that moment she pulled a small knife, hidden away in her boat and stabbed me." Yang explained, pulling back the sleeve on her shirt, revealing the small stab wound on her right arm near the inside on her elbow.

"So she did attack you?" Annalee asked.

"Yeah. After she stabbed me, she looked at Weiss and told her to tell the police that she was crazy." Yang continued, rolling her sleeve back down.

"So it was her idea for you to say she was insane." Annalee stated.

"Correct. I believe she thought that if we told them the truth, we would get in trouble, which is correct. However, by stating we were attacked, it would show she had no regard for family and she was insane." Yang said.

"Why now? Why wait this long to tell your side of the story?" Annalee asked.

"Because I didn't feel like it was that important until recently. Up until a few weeks ago, I felt the need to protect myself and my sister. But with that story came the assumption that she was heartless and only cares for herself and I know for a fact that's untrue. And while I can't say I completely forgive her for what she's done, I do want people to know that she is still the nice, little sister I grew up with, even if it's buried underneath all the hate surrounding her." Yang said confidently.

"Do you believe she'll ever stop being this person she is now?" Annalee asked.

"I firmly believe that given the chance, she would stop being this person right now. I feel as if the only reason she is still being The Grim Reaper is because she has nowhere else to go. She has no chance at a normal life now, so she puts on this mask and does these things because she has to in order to survive. We both know that if she just stopped doing the things she does and tried to live a normal life, she'd be killed instantly. So to answer your question, no, I do not believe she will ever stop, simply because she is unable to stop." Yang said, a bit heated.

"If Ruby were here right now, what would you do?" Annalee asked.

"I'd give her a hug, tell her it's okay, that she's still my sister. Treat her like the person she was before all of this happened." Yang said, a bit tearful again. There was a brief moment of silence before Annalee spoke up.

"Alright that's all the questions I had for you today. The only thing left is to get some shots of you doing just everyday activities and then we'll be out of your hair, sound good?" She asked.

"Alright. Do I need to keep the mic and makeup on or can I wash it off?" Yang asked.

"You can take the makeup off, but we still need you mic'd up." Annalee responded.

"Sounds good. Let me wash this off real fast." Yang said, headed towards the washroom.

/

"Okay, I'll ask you a few basic questions and we'll see if your fit the bill. Sound alright?" The older female asked.

"Sounds great." The younger girl replied.

"Okay, first off, my name is Calli Tanaka. And just to make sure, you're applying for the overnight shift here at me and my husband's bookstore, correct? You'll be the only overnight employee, but you shouldn't be that busy, maybe a customer an hour." Calli explained.

"Yep." The girl answered.

"Okay so your hours would be 10pm – 6am Monday night through Thursday night. You would get weekends off; I assume that works for you?" Calli asked, looking down at the sheet of paper in front of her.

"Works fine." The girl said.

"Okay. Any previous overnight experience? Could be anywhere, just don't want you falling asleep on the job." Calli stated.

"I had some experience with overnight as a huntress." The girl replied with a smile.

"Wow, you were a huntress? If you don't mind me asking, why'd you stop?" Calli replied, a bit starstruck.

"Had a couple really close run-ins with death on my final few missions so I decided to give it a rest for a bit. Might go back though." The girl replied, placing her hand underneath her chin.

"Okay then. I had a question about handling yourself during the event of a robbery, but I don't think I need to worry." Calli replied with a chuckle. This also elicited a small laugh from the girl as well. "Alright, umm, uhhh. Sorry, lost my train of thought. As you can see, I'm not the professional type. Let's see… You technically already answered were you'd see yourself in five years so the only other important question I would need to ask is do you have a criminal history. While we do accept criminals with minor crimes, we don't accept those committed of big crimes like murder or rape. Don't do background checks here but just know if that the cops come asking for you, you're on your own cause we don't want to get in trouble."

"No need to worry. I have a clean record." The girl smiled.

"Alright, well that wraps that up… oh shit, I forgot the most important question. What's your name sweetheart?" Calli asked, a bit embarrassed.

The younger girl looked her in the eyes, her silver eyes glimmering with happiness.

"Amber."


	2. Chapter 2: Family Lunch

The sunlight peeking in through the blinds right onto Yang's face finally caused her to wake up. Although it was a Thursday morning, Yang didn't have anything to do that day, or that week. In fact, if she remembered correctly, she didn't have a single mission planned for the entire month. Facing this fact, Yang debated whether or not to just let the sunlight hit her face and go back to sleep, or to just get up. However, when she looked at the clock and it read 10:46 A.M., she decided that she had gotten enough sleep.

Slowly, she sat up in her bed, her eyes half open and her hair a mess. She rubbed her eyes and yawned a few times before removing the blanket on top of her and swinging her legs off the bed. After a couple more seconds, she planted her feet on the ground and groggily made her way to her bathroom. She spent around 15 minutes just waking up and getting freshened up a bit by showering before making her way to the kitchen, more awake now.

She once again poured herself a bowl of cereal and sat down at the small kitchen table. However, just before beginning to eat, she remembered that her scroll was still in her bedroom. Yang stood back up, leaving everything on the table and shuffled her way back to her room. She quickly found her scroll on top of her nightstand and grabbed it. As she made her way back to the table, she noticed she had a message from her father. A bit puzzled, she opened it up. It read:

_Hey! Haven't heard from you in about a week. If you're on a mission, you didn't tell me first. If you're not, maybe you could swing by and we could have lunch. Love, dad. 3_

At first, Yang was a bit confused. Surely it hadn't been that long since she last visited. But the more she thought about it, the more he was right. She hadn't been over or visited him since last Friday. She had planned to visit Monday afternoon, but was preoccupied by the interview. And since then, she had really just been moping around for lack of a better word. And this got her thinking even more.

It had been nearly a decade since she last made contact with her younger sister, but what had she done to make that contact? As much as she could remember, all she did was sit around and wait for Ruby to show up. But if Ruby wanted to come home, she would have done it by now. Hell, if she really wanted it, she would have come home when Yang last saw her Beacon. The thought of that night made her remember what she had done. Yang looked down at her right arm, the scar, while small, was still very visible.

Yang couldn't blame Ruby for what happened that night. She was right after all. She knew that a normal life was not possible after that day and that her best bet was to go into hiding. She never blamed Ruby for leaving her. Even the stab was justified given the circumstances. But what she could blame her for was never coming back. The first few years, sure. Tensions were still high and Yang and Taiyang was under constant scrutiny from both the media and the public. But after that, once their names were "clear", she could have come home at any time, even if just for a few minutes. To talk, to apologize, to justify her actions. But no, she abandoned them faster than they abandoned her.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. Why? Why did Ruby do this? Hadn't her family been through enough? First Raven leaves, then Summer, and now Ruby? Was Taiyang going to abandoned her next?!

Yang's eyes turned bright red, and so did her vision. All she could think about was the pain and negative Ruby had brought them. That was until she remembered why she thought about this. She realized she was still looking down at the text on her scroll from her father. And that's when an idea hit her. Yang quickly put the milk back in the fridge and the cereal back in the pantry and ran to her room to change. She texted her father that she was headed over there soon. But what she didn't tell him is that she was about to go on a new mission.

She was going to find her sister.

/

"Hamburgers, fresh off the grill. With some of tomatoes from my garden of course." Taiyang said, holding a plate of burgers, toppings, and other various condiments over his head as he entered the kitchen.

Yang let out a small chuckle and a smile seeing her father balance the plate in on his palm. It had been far too long since the two had a nice lunch or dinner together. Usually their visits consisted of a brief sparring match or helping out around the house before getting something delivered. But it hadn't been since Yang moved out that she had had a properly cooked homemade meal.

Taiyang set the plate down in the middle of the table and the two got to fixing their burgers. Yang made hers with cheese, Ketchup, Mayo, and some lettuce while Taiyang just stuck with some lettuce and ketchup. The two ate in silence for a moment before Taiyang spoke up.

"So, how'd your last mission go?" He said after swallowing a large bite.

"Pretty good. Simple Search and Destroy near a small village. Nothing too difficult." Yang replied.

"And what about your teammates? Were the as "competent" as the last bunch?" Taiyang questioned.

"No, they were actually pretty good. There was a small clash in fighting styles between two of them but nothing that ever put us in real danger." Yang responded.

"Hmm. Happens. Well, I'm glad you made it home okay." Tai said, before continuing with his meal. Yang, on the other hand, put her burger back down on her plate and pushed it to the side.

"Dad. I wanted to talk to you about something." Yang said in a serious voice.

Tai perked up a bit, but still continued eating.

"Annalee came over to my house the other day." Yang started off. Tai let out a muffled sigh before swallowing his bite.

"I thought that might happen. Did you do an interview?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"And what did you say?"

"My side of the story. What happened that night and how I feel about the whole thing." Yang said.

"Anything new that you haven't told me?" Taiyang asked, his serious side showing.

"Everything I told them, I've told you." Yang said.

"Good. I don't want to find out anything new from the TV instead of my own daughter." Taiyang said, before taking another bite out of his hamburger.

"That interview got me thinking though," Yang began. Taiyang raised an eyebrow but kept on eating. "I'm going to find Ruby." She stated.

Taiyang suddenly began to choke on his food, startled by the news.

"Oh my Oum! Dad!" Yang said, rushing over to his side. A few muffled coughs followed by some partially chewed food being coughed up and a large gulp of water later, Taiyang finally responded. "You what?!"

"I'm going to find Ruby." Yang repeated sounding a little less enthusiastic than before.

"Yang, you can't be serious." Tai said.

"Wha… You don't think I can do it?" Yang asked, sounding offended.

"Besides an obvious yes, I gotta ask why?" Taiyang responded.

"Well for starters, thanks for believing in me. And secondly, I haven't seen or even heard from her in nearly a decade. And as far as I know, neither have you, unless she visited you without visiting me!" Yang said, beginning to sound angry.

Taiyang took a deep breath. "Yang, it's not that I don't believe in you, it's that there's a good chance Ruby is dead, and has been dead for a while now." He stated.

"How would you know?" Yang asked, a bit calmer but still angry.

Taiyang sighed again. "Follow me." He said, before getting up from the table. Yang followed him into his office, located upstairs next to Yang's bedroom. "Sit here." He said pointing to the office chair in the middle of the room. Taiyang went to his desk, clicking on a few files and opened up a document on his computer. He then turned off the lights and pointed a remote at the wall opposite of him. Soon, a projector clicked to life and a large canvas began to unfurl itself from the ceiling. Yang remembered being in this room many times when she was younger, mainly for private huntsman training classes Taiyang taught both her and Ruby before they went off to Signal.

A few more clicks later and soon a program appeared on the canvas. It showed a timeline dating back almost a decade with tons of lines dotted across the chart.

"I've kept track of every single time Ruby got into a fight with huntsman and huntresses. In the last ten years, Ruby has gotten in 119 fights with huntsman groups, some as large as ten strong. And she's won nearly all of them. At first, she was getting in a fight a day. That's when the manhunt was at its strongest. And the people they were sending were at their weakest." Taiyang explained.

"So at first, they were sending untrained forces to kill her?" Yang asked.

"Not exactly. At first, the primary objective was capture. They wanted her alive to face consequences but if the group they sent accidentally killed her, that would also work. Plus, the people they were sending were more often than not, recent graduates from the academies. So people around the age of 21 to 24. They had training, but they lacked real world experiences. Plus, the groups they sent were, a majority of the time, groups that specialized in capture rather than killing." He continued.

"So they were sending untrained and unfit huntsman?" Yang asked.

"To put it bluntly, yes." Taiyang continued. "However, as the months turned into years and the dead kept rising, the order was changed to Kill on Sight. And the groups they sent were trained, skilled, veteran huntsman. But even these men and women fell victim to Ruby."

"Holy shit…" Yang said, not believing her own ears.

"Yeah. After about five years of this, right around the time I did my interview, the Remnant Bureau of International Terrorism ended it's program to capture and/or kill Ruby. They stopped sending huntsman and huntresses out into the field and basically said 'Look, we're not going to stop you if you want to kill her, but we aren't responsible for any deaths that may occur if you do.' By this point, Ruby had killed nearly 250 huntsman and huntresses."

Yang could only sit in silence upon hearing that Ruby had killed all those people.

"However, after that decision, the number of attacks began to decrease. First, it was one a day, then one a week, once every two weeks, so on and so forth until the latest attack." Taiyang said, moving his cursor to the farthest line to the right on the timeline. Clicking on it revealed a number of newspaper clippings and articles about the attack. "This attack occurred seven months ago, marking the longest break it attacks since her first attack. And leading up to this attack was the second longest break, of nearly six months." Taiyang explained.

"So, why do you believe she's dead just off this?" Yang asked.

"Simple. Survivors. Across all 119 of these attacks, there were 402 deaths. However, there were a total of 417 victims, leaving us with just 15 survivors of the attacks." Taiyang said.

"Only 15? Out of 417?" Yang asked.

"Apparently, Ruby is very efficient. That's a 97% kill rate." Taiyang said as he clicked on a little box in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, revealing a new set of lines, overlaid on top of the previous lines. "The attacks are in red; the survivors are in green. What do you see?" Taiyang asked. Yang looked at the chart closely before responding.

"There was only one survivor in the first five years." She said in a somber tone.

"Exactly, which leaves us with fourteen in the following five year. But what else do you notice about that last attack?" He asked. Yang looked at the last attack and noticed a five in the single green line.

"There were five survivors of that attack?" She said, unsure if that is what the numbers meant.

"Correct. And you want to know how many people attacked her that day? Eight. That means she only killed three people out of eight. A 38% kill rate, the worst she's ever managed." Taiyang said.

"It seems like you're treating this like it's some game stats. This is Ruby, your daughter you're talking about." Yang said, sounding a bit upset.

"I know exactly who I'm talking about. But to get my point across, I have to give you the facts." Taiyang replied, equally as upset.

Yang sighed. "Fine, what's your point?"

"My point is that these survivors reported her running away from a fight, something she'd never done before. And they also said that she'd been struck in the thigh by one of the weapons, causing her to lose a ton of blood."

"So what? She probably ran to patch herself up. This doesn't mean she's dead." Yang said, sounding worried.

Taiyang sighed before clicking another small box. This time, a solid brick of orange appeared on the timeline, layered behind all the previous lines. "Orange represents every single confirmed sighting of Ruby, and these number in the thousands. Look at the last attack." Yang once again looked over at the timeline and noticed a sudden stop in sighting, dating the following day after the attack. Taiyang clicked on the orange line and a grainy videos began to play.

"She was spotted on a local ER CCTV camera stealing medical supplies from a parked ambulance. And as you can see, there is a large gash in her thigh and the surrounding clothing seems to be soaked in blood. There hasn't been another confirmed sighting of her since." Taiyang said, turning on the lights back on. Yang sat in silence for a moment before breaking the silence.

"So you're saying she's gone and I shouldn't look for her?" Yang asked, her eyes a bit teary.

"No, I'm not saying you shouldn't look for her. I'm saying you should be prepared in case you don't find her. And if you do, be prepared for her not wanting to be found. Ten years of that," he said, pointing to the timeline, "can do a number on people. You may find her, but she might be aggressive, or violent, or she might not even remember you." Taiyang said.

Yang wiped the tears from her eyes. "Okay. I will. Hope for the best; Prepare for the worst." Yang said with a smile, before standing up.

"That's my sunny little dragon. Just keep me in touch. I want to know if you find her or not." Taiyang said, also smiling.

"Got it. And thanks, dad." Yang said, as she headed for the door.

"You going at this alone?" He asked.

"Nah, I got a friend I can call." Yang said from over her shoulder.

"Wait. One more thing." Taiyang said, stopping Yang. "Were the burgers any good? It's been a while since I made them."

Yang let out a chuckle. "They were perfect dad. Thank you for the meal. Love you."

"Anytime." Taiyang said before Yang left the room and headed out the front door. She made her way over to her bike and soon sped off. She had to make a stop at her house to grab a few things before heading over to the Patch airship base near Signal to catch a ride over to Atlas to see an old friend.


	3. Chapter 3: A Plan

Yang looked over her things one last time to make sure she didn't forget anything. A few extra changes of clothes? Check. Her scroll and charger? Check. Keys to her bike? Check. Her weapon?

Yang suddenly spun around, realizing that she had almost forgotten to pack her weapon, Ember Celica. Since her time at Beacon, it hadn't changed much. They were still the fashionable shotgun gauntlets that fit snuggly onto her wrists. However, since her time at Beacon, technology had improved greatly. This allows for the gauntlets to be more combat, yet still hold more dust rounds. On the downside, their smaller size made them harder to find if they were to get lost after Yang took them off. And unfortunately for Yang, that's exactly what was happening here.

After not finding them in their designated spot on her nightstand, Yang quickly began to tear apart her room, looking for her precious weapons. After a brief yet destructive search, she found them in between her bed and the wall, likely falling down after being tossed on the bed after her last mission.

With the final piece of her wardrobe accounted for, she tossed everything else into her duffle bag, grabbed her keys, locked her house up and sped away on her motorcycle, bound for the Patch Airfield.

/

"And make sure you don't get arrested. I don't want to have to fly across the globe just to bail you out. Driving across Patch was embarrassing enough." Her father said over the phone.

"You know I can't promise too much, right?" Yang said with a smirk.

"Don't make me come up there." Taiyang said, seriously.

"Fine. I promise I won't get arrested. I can't promise not getting in trouble though." Yang replied.

"I can live with that. Love you." Taiyang said.

"Love you too, Dad." Yang responded, before ending the call. She had arrived at the airfield about 20 minutes ago, even though her flight didn't leave for another 45 minutes. She had planned on things being a bit more hectic since it was a Friday evening, however, this didn't seem to be the case. At least not yet, Yang could tell the terminal was a bit livelier than it was when she first got there, even though there were only two more people. Still, better to be early than late.

Yang pondered about what to do for the next thirty-ish minutes until her flight began boarding. She could also play some random game on her scroll or just people watch. But seeing as her scroll wasn't great on power and there weren't any people to watch, both of those were out of the question. So, with both of her main distraction ideas, she let her mind wander in hopes of losing track of time.

Yang began to think of the mission at hand, getting to her sister. It wasn't like any of her huntsman mission before. It wasn't search and destroy, or escorting an important item/person, or even just protecting a small village from Grimm. It was finding a lost individual. Sure, she had done search and rescue before, but this time it was personal. This time, it was finding someone who didn't want to be found. Someone who ran away on purpose in order to escape. Someone who stabbed their own sister, right in front of one of their only friends, just to get away. That night began to play again in Yang's mind, the last time she saw her little sister. The looks of disbelief and shook on both hers and Weiss' face mirrored each other and…

Weiss! Yang jolted back into reality. It hadn't even dawned on her that she should call Weiss or at the minimum let her know she was coming. Yang whipped out her scroll and quickly pulled up her contacts. She quickly scrolled down to the bottom were Weiss' contact information sat. Yang tapped on her name, but right before tapping the call button, she hesitated.

_Should I call Weiss? _Yang thought. _Does she even remember me? It's been so long. Would she even care? Am I going over there for nothing? _All these thought began circling in Yang's head, preventing her from tapping the call button. What if Weiss just decided to block out all memories of that night? Just decided to move on with her life. Yang knew next to nothing about what Weiss had been up to since that night, only that she moved back into her parent's mansion, and… Yang couldn't think of anything else. She was about to fly across the planet to meet up with someone who she hadn't talked to, let alone even research what they'd been up to in the last decade, in order to convince them to join them on a mission to find someone, who they might have forgotten.

Yang's finger still hovered over the call button. Yang thought really hard about what she was about to do and quickly moved her finger to tap the close button. Her contacts app disappeared but was quickly replaced by the Cross Continental Transmit System App. She quickly navigated over to the search function and typed in **Weiss Schnee** and hit enter. Within milliseconds, hundreds of thousands of results popped up. Yang ignored the pages about her biography and tabloids and instead navigated over to the news tab.

Instantly, news articles popped up, showing what Weiss had done in recent times to make the news: _Record high stocks in SDC _one news site read.

_Weiss makes a name for herself in business world _another said.

_SDC and White Fang nearing agreement _a third exclaimed.

As Yang scrolled farther and farther down, she realized that after leaving Beacon, Weiss had immersed herself in the business world, and had made an actual name for herself. While the SDC was by far the biggest company in the world, Weiss had made it more friendly with both its investors and its workers. She had gotten rid of the faunas slavery and had done away with the poor working conditions, all while making sure profits were at an all-time high. The more Yang scrolled, the more she realized that maybe recruiting Weiss for her mission was a bad idea. Maybe pulling Weiss away from the business world in order to find someone that she probably didn't even remember would do more harm than good.

Yang closed her scroll and sat quietly for a moment. Maybe bringing more people into this was a bad idea. Maybe this was something she had to do on her own. In fact, it was something she had to do on her own. This was her sister, not Weiss'. This was her idea, so she had to go at it alone. Pulling Weiss into the mix would only make things worse for all parties involved.

With that out of the way, Yang opened her scroll back up and was about to cancel her ticket when the news stories starred her right in the face. All these stories were about Weiss and business. How she had done so well with the company. However, none of them seemed to cover her personal life. In fact, all the articles were from business sites or the business department of large media corporations. Yang realized then that she was basing her information on Weiss solely on what Weiss wanted the world to see, not what she was hiding.

Not satisfied with her finding, Yang quickly scrolled back up to the top and tapped on the search bar. She typed out **The Grim Reaper **after Weiss' name and clicked enter. Instantly, the articles and sites changed from business sites with headlines praising Weiss to tabloids and conspiracy theorist sites condemning and criticizing Weiss' business and moral practices.

_How Weiss is single-handedly destroying the SDC name _one said.

_Is Weiss secretly funding The Grim Reaper?! _Another exclaimed.

_How Weiss' reckless business practices are helping The Grim Reaper kill of her political opponents. _Another brazenly said. In all honesty, most of the headlines made Yang laugh and soon she began to click on those peaked her interest, quickly losing sight of the main goal. Many of these sites relied of poor research or flat out lies to drive their point home. Most of these sites were just black text on a white background, further adding to the hilarity of it all. A few came from actual sites that looked funded, but those often had the worst evidence and just relied on shock value rather than actual provable evidence.

Soon, however, Yang stubbled across one headline that read: _SDC's tyrannical leader reveals in private letter sent to us that she personally knew The Grim Reaper and she's an employee at the SDC! _The second part really made Yang chuckle however the first part was what really peaked her curiosity. _There's no way it's an actual letter, probably just some fake _Yang thought, clicking on the link.

The page started off with some basic mumbo jumbo about how the SDC were devil worshipers and they should all be tried for murder, something that gave Yang a bit of a chuckle. Further down the page there was a picture of a hand-written note basically asking the SDC to reveal that they know The Grim Reaper personally. Yang could barely read the note but got the gist of it. Below it was "evidence" that the SDC knew The Grim Reaper which were just poorly edited photos with The Grim Reaper just kinda pasted into the photo.

Below this was another photo, this time of a cease and desist letter from the SDC with the text above it reading **This is the evidence that the SDC knows The Grim Reaper. If they didn't, why would they hide it. **This really made Yang laugh since it was obvious that site had just harassed the SDC enough for them to tell them to stop. However, Yang soon noticed a highlighted section near the bottom of the letter that caught her eye. It read:

**While Weiss Schnee and the SDC firmly denies any and all allegations that say Weiss or the SDC knows and interacts with The Grim Reaper on a regular basis, it is public knowledge that during her times at Beacon, Ms. Schnee was teammates with Ruby Rose, who later became the Grim Reaper. And while it has been stated that following the event at the Vytal Festival Ms. Schnee cut any and all ties with Ruby Rose, she has stated before that she does wish for Ruby Rose to turn herself into the authorities. **

Yang stopped laughing and re-read the statement. Yang quickly checked the date of the article and found it to be only a few months old, meaning even after all this time, Weiss really did care about and still remember Ruby. Curious to see the popularity of this information, Yang saved the letter and threw it into a reverse image search. It came up with a few results, mainly from other conspiracy theorists sites. Realizing that not many people had scene this, Yang decided to send the image to her father. Satisfied with her research Yang went back to her original thought, was pulling Weiss into this a good or bad idea. After a few moments of pondering, Yang concluded it was probably best to ask Weiss herself.

Coincidently, right as Yang came to this conclusion, the announcement came up over the loudspeaker stating the boarding for the flight to Atlas had begun. Yang picked up her bags and made her way to the airship.

/

"Alright, let me give you a brief tour." Calli said, leading Ruby in through the front door, stopping by the front desk. "Your main job will be just to restock the shelves. We have carts that the customers place books they read by didn't buy and you'll be in charge of making sure those books go back to the place they belong, okay?"

"Sounds easy enough." Ruby replied. It had been a few days since her initial interview. She wasn't too surprised when the owner called her back and told her she had the job. She had spent the last few days scouting out the town, looking for a place to rent, but seeing as everything cost money and all the credit cards she had obtained recently were all reported stolen, Ruby didn't have any money to rent with. Luckily, ten years on the run meant she was decent at finding places to crash, squat, or even move into for short amounts of time. However, now that she had an overnight job, it both gave her some steady income and a place to stay the night.

"As you can see, it's not too big but you can't see everything from the front desk. So when you're not stocking the shelves, every once in a while, just walk around the place, making sure nothing has fallen over or is dirty." Calli said.

"Sounds reasonable." Ruby responded with a smile.

"Great! Glad to see you're excited. So we only have two major sections here, fiction to the left and nonfiction to the right." Calli said, gesturing to the sign attached to the ceiling." She continued, walking towards the fiction section, Ruby right behind her.

"In the fiction section, we have the sub-genres arranged by row. "Sci-fi on one row, fantasy on another, Mystery/Crime on the next, so on and so forth. I don't feel like I need to go over every genre, you'll pick up on it fast. Plus, the genre is written on the beginning of the shelf, here." Calli said, pointing to a small handwritten note in a small frame.

"So each genre has it's own aisle?" Ruby asked.

"For the most part. So of the largest genre's bleed over the next aisle but they mainly stick to one singular aisle." Calli replied, moving the mini tour along. "Magazines and children's books are in the middle of the store, right behind the front desk." She said, walking past a children's sized table with marker marks all over it. "We used to allow coloring book but then the kids and even some teens began to mark up the actual books so when got rid of them. Parents can bring in their own markers for their kids, just make sure the kids don't mark up anything they aren't suppose to."

"If I see a parent bringing their kid in during my shift, I think there might be some bigger problems afoot." Ruby said with a smirk, eliciting a decent laugh from Calli.

"You're gonna be great here, sweetie." Calli replied, her laughter dying down. "Same deal as the fiction section, non-fiction works the same way, genre's split up into singular aisles with signs directing people where to find the books they are looking for. Genre's include, biographies/autobiographies, news stories, we even got some true crime stuff."

The true crime part peaked Ruby's interest. _I wonder if she has anything on me. _Ruby thought.

"Against the windows there is a table with a few spots to sit, as well as some tables and chairs in each section against the walls. There are power outlets by each seating area as well as some free magazines that we as supplied. Just make sure no one steals them." Calli stated, making her way back towards the front of the store.

"Anything else I should know?" Ruby asked once they reached the front.

"Nope. That's about all I can think of at the moment." Calli responded.

"Sweet. When should I come back to start then?" Ruby questioned.

Calli let out a small chuckle. "While I appreciate the commitment, the store is actually closing tonight so we can get the carpets deep cleaned."

"Oh." Ruby responded, her enthusiasm dropping.

"You're welcome to stay until the store closes at ten." Calli said.

"Alright then." Ruby replied, slightly happier.

Ruby spent the next seven hours swapping between reading fantasy books and gun magazines. In her time at Beacon, she would have gone for comic books, but seeing as her life was now more unbelievable and ridiculous than a comic book, she quickly got bored of them. At around 9:50, she left the bookstore, saying goodbye to Calli and walked out onto the street.

It was a decently cold night, the temperature hovering right above freezing. And while Ruby did have pants and a sweater on, she still knew that she wouldn't last long in these temperatures, especially if the temperature dropped. So Ruby turned right and headed down the street, bundled up and shivering. She had stashed an extra layer of clothing, a bag with some supplies, and a few other various items in an abandoned home on the east side of town.

The town she was currently in was called Ine-cho, a small village on the east coast of Anima situated near the ocean. Fairly small population and town size made it one of the better places for Ruby to lay low for a few months if she needed. There was a small downtown district with most of the business' and city hall while all the homes sat on the outside of town. The town was lucky enough to have paved roads and street lamps, which made the walk back to Ruby's hideaway a bit easier to navigate.

However, when Ruby rounded the corner onto her street, she was stopped dead in her tracks. Towards the end of street there were two police motorcycles with lights flashing, meaning one of two things happened. Either someone say Ruby leave and called the cops or there was a completely separate incident happening on the street. Either way, she wasn't about to risk walking down there and making her way into an abandoned home.

Ruby sighed. She just had to gamble on the fact that she could get her things some other time and quickly kept walking down the street she was on. While she had kept some supplies at that house, Ruby knew better than to keep all of it there. That's why she kept her weapon, food, and camping supplies she "found" on the outskirts of town. This was normal for Ruby after nearly losing everything in the beginning of her time on the run. She usually kept the most important items stashed away in bushes or in trees or in places that you'd have to be looking for something to actually see it. This way, in case of emergency, or what was happening now, she could quickly leave town with only a few items and leave the rest of her things to either be thrown away or discovered.

At first she was cautious not to leave any type of footprint behind, keeping everything until she could properly dispose of it. But as time passed and less and less people seemed to care, Ruby realized that stolen credit cards or articles of clothing couldn't be directly traces back to her if she was long gone. Also, if the people in town realized The Grim Reaper was in town and tried to get her arrested, it wasn't like her leaving behind some things would do anything.

As Ruby kept walking she soon left behind the well-lit street and paved roads and found herself on one of the thousands of single lane dirt paths that criss crossed all over anima. These roads served as a backbone in rural travel, and some of these paths went on for hundreds of miles in a single direction. However, this time, Ruby only had to stay on the path for about a half mile before splitting off into the woods.

About 150 yards off the path was an old, abandoned looking building. Even though it had a few broken windows and the walls weren't that great, it looked livable. Ruby had stashed her stuff inside a few days ago and hadn't been back to it since. Ruby walked over to the front door, finding it unlocked and moved inside. It was dark, but Ruby could make out that it was a single room lob cabin type building. Bed on the far side, fireplace towards the middle, and small kitchen setup close to the door.

Ruby scanned the room briefly and found her things in a neat pile right next to the front door. _Curious, _Ruby thought, _I could have sworn I left my stuff on the bed. Guess I moved it_. Ruby closed the door and reached down to grab her backpack when suddenly…

The loud chambering of a shotgun round pulled Ruby's attention to a dark corner directly adjacent to her.

"Don't move. Hands where I can see them." An old male voice said.

_Or he moved them. _Ruby thought, raising her hands to be just above her head as she stood up straight and looked towards the voice. A lamp light clicked on and Ruby was staring at an old man, probably in his mid to late-70s holding a shotgun pointed right at Ruby's chest.

"You even think about grabbing that weapon of yours, and I'll blow a hole in your stomach bigger than the one in the moon." He said, gripping the shotgun tight.

"You do know how aura works, right?" Ruby asked sarcastically.

"Don't tempt me lady. I know who you are." He said.

"What gave it away? The sword or my personality?" Ruby said, still being sarcastic.

BANG!

A shotgun blast landed right at Ruby's feet, causing the wooden floor to splinter. The man cocked back the shotgun, racking another round into it.

"I thought you said you were gonna blow a hole in me?" Ruby asked, calling the man out.

"I'm giving you another chance. Now answer me this, why did you break into my house?" He asked.

Ruby debated telling the man the truth or not for a brief moment, and landed on telling him the truth, if only just to humor him in his final moment.

"I needed a play to stash my things. And this looked abandoned, so it seemed perfect." Ruby stated.

"Why did it take you so long to get it then?" He asked.

"This town seemed nice enough to stay for a bit and I didn't need it until now." Ruby continued, watching the mans finger on the trigger.

"So you're living here, in my town?" The man asked, seemingly getting irate.

"Yes. I'm looking for a job here too. Might settle down and have a few kids, who knows?" Ruby said, her eyes glancing down at her weapon attached to the side of her backpack.

The man was silent for a moment before finally speaking.

"There's an old hunting cabin two miles back in the woods behind my house. You can stay there." He said. Surprised, Ruby questioned him.

"You're letting me go?" She asked, her façade of being tough showing its first signs of fading.

"I know who you are, and who you were. I know that underneath all those layers of killer is someone who isn't that at all. So yes, I'm letting you go." He said.

Ruby reached down slowly to grab her backpack and supplies.

"Fatal mistake." She said, before in one swift motion, grabbing ahold of the handle of her weapon and activating her semblance. She quickly turned into a mass of rose pedals, headed straight for the man. However, when she reached him and popped out, instead of the gun still pointed at where she was, the barrel of the shotgun was pressed up against the underside of her chin. She froze, knowing that even with full aura, it wouldn't protect her against a point-blank shot to the chin.

Ruby looked down on the man as she stood above him, her weapon held back behind her head like a baseball player to hit pitch. The old man looked back at her, his brown eyes showing both anger and anticipation. However, what surprised Ruby the most was that his eyes lacked fear, like he was prepared for this to happen.

"Leave, Ruby. Don't make me kill you." He said. His tone shook Ruby, for once making her the one that was afraid. Ruby lowered and weapon and backed away from the man, never taking her eyes off of him. He did the same, still pointing the gun at her as she reached down and grabbed her backpack. Ruby took her eyes off him for a brief second to open the door, looking back at him once it was open. Ruby then walked out the door, shutting it once she was outside again.

Once the door was closed, Ruby took off in a full sprint towards what she thought was the direction of the cabin. After running for a bit, she slowed down and stopped.

"What the fuck was that?!" Ruby said to herself, out of breath. "How did he know where to point that gun? Do I know him? He doesn't look familiar." She said, soon realizing she was talking to no one. Ruby took a deep breath and composed herself. She continued on, heading in the same direction until she eventually reached the cabin.

The cabin was a bit run down with moss growing on the roof and weeds growing from in between the wooden panels on the small porch. The door was unlocked so Ruby let herself in. Like the old man's home, it was a single room cabin with a bed up against the side of a fireplace. There wasn't a kitchen like in the other one, but Ruby didn't really mind.

Ruby quickly found a few old, decrepit painting and pictures on the walls surrounded in wooden frames and threw them into the fireplace. After massing a small pile, she pulled a thing of flint and steel from her bag and began striking the two together until the paintings caught fire. Within a few moments, there was a decently sized fire in the fireplace, warming up the surrounding area.

Ruby then grabbed her sleeping back with was attached to the bottom of her backpack, unraveled it and placed it next to the fire. She went outside and found a few dry logs near the front of the cabin, brought them inside and placed them in the fire before climbing into the sleeping bag and falling asleep.


	4. Chapter 4: A Long Awaited Reunion

_Attention passengers. We are now arriving in Atlas. Please grab all your belongings as we are not responsible for any left behinds. We hope you enjoy your time in Remnants Technology Capital of the World._

Yang rolled her eyes as she picked up her bags. _Always something with these people_ she thought.

Her airship ride had been pretty long, considering she had traveled to the other side of the planet. It didn't help that she had two stops along the way to pick up more passengers and to refuel. It was a good thing she used most of that time to sleep, making it seem shorter than it actually was. And it was a good idea too, as she had a long day ahead of her, not to mention the journey she was about to go on.

As the airship landed and people began to depart, Yang was in awe of the city she just arrived in. A city full of wonders and technology, floating hundreds of meters above the city of Mantle, held up by gravity dust. _Maybe that announcement was right _Yang thought, before quickly dismissing the idea. _Can't get sidetracked. I have to find Weiss._

Once off the airship, Yang made her way around the side of the landing platform in order to grab her trusty motorcycle. One by one, she watched the ground crew off-load item after item, none of them belonging to her. As the minutes passed, she began to wonder why it was taking so long, surely there weren't that many large items on board.

After about ten minutes, she was beginning to become angry. She was certain she had it loaded on board. There were a few motorcycle sized boxes being unloaded, maybe they had just put it in one of them for safe keeping. However, not wanting to wait any longer, Yang reached into her pockets and pulled out her keys. She had installed a feature that revved her engine at max RPM, causing it to make a loud enough noise to scare off the Grimm, let alone hear it though some plywood.

Yang pointed her keys towards the airship and clicked the button. However, instead of hearing the roar of her favorite motorcycle, all she heard was the ambient noise of the airship. She clicked it again, thinking she just might not have pressed it down hard enough. Still, no roar. She clicked it a few more times, this time out of panic but alas, she didn't get a response. If this was ten years ago and she was 18 again, she would have jumped the small fence separating the landing platforms and the walkways, raced over to where they were unloading the airship and ripped every box open to see where her motorcycle was, pushing passed anyone in her way. However, in the last decade, she had become calmer and more civilized. Not saying she still didn't have the spunk and can-do attitude, but it was kept more in check nowadays.

Instead, Yang called out to one of the workers working on unloading the airship. The airship was making some noises, but not nearly enough to drown out normal conversation, let alone a yell. He looked to let out a small sigh and made his way over to Yang.

"What can I help you with?" He asked, a small clipboard in hand.

"Can you check and see if there's a motorcycle on that airship? I know I had it loaded up." Yang replied.

He looked down at the papers on the clipboard, flipping through them quickly. "I, uh, don't see a motorcycle on the manifesto." He replied, still looking at the papers.

"Well, can you at least check the boxes? Maybe it slipped through." Yang replied.

He let out another sigh before reaching down and grabbing his radio. "Hey, can you guys check the cargo from Flight 726 to see if there is a motorcycle. It's not on the manifesto." He said, speaking into the radio. Yang watched as the three workers stopped unloading, walked over, and began opening the large crates. As they opened the crates and peeked inside, Yang watched as they turned towards the man standing next to Yang and shook their heads.

"Sorry miss. It ain't here." The man replied.

"Fuck." Yang replied, her heart dropping.

"You know for certain you had it put on the airship?" He asked.

"Yeah, pretty sure." Yang said, defeated.

"Well, my best advice to you is to call the company and report it missing. Did you have any layovers anywhere?" The man questioned. Yang just replied with an indistinct sound of agreement. "Well there's a chance it was offloaded by accident. It's rare, but it happens." He continued.

"Thanks. What's the number?" Yang asked.

"Here, hold on." The man said, reaching into his pocket for a pen before scribbling down some numbers. After about 30 seconds, he handed Yang the note. "Call this number, 1-800-SDC-AIR1, tell them your name, your missing item, and the Flight number, 726. From there, they should be able to take care of the rest." He said.

"Thank you." Yang replied, sounding a bit better but still a bit saddened.

"No problem. Hope you find it." The man replied. And with that, he walked back towards the airship. Yang meanwhile made her way down the walkway towards the terminal, pulling out her scroll in the process. When she opened it up however, she noticed she had a couple messages from her father. While not unusual, amongst them was a photo. Yang quickly unlocked her scroll and opened the photo. She immediately felt like a moron.

The photo was of her motorcycle, still in Patch, parked in a loading zone with a parking ticket on the windshield, with the caption _Forget something? _From her father beneath it.

Amongst the feeling of embarrassment, she felt bad for the worker she made look for her things that weren't even on this continent, and anger at herself for not only doing something that stupid, but now, she needed to rent a car and spend more money than she expected.

_What a way to start this adventure_ she thought as she made her way into the car rentals.

/

As Yang drove away from the lot with her rental bike, she realized just how exhausted and relieved she was to be done with the rental agencies. She also realized just how strict the rules were here versus back home in Patch.

The biggest thing was the license. Yang only sported a motorcycle license, not a Class E driver's license. This meant that she couldn't rent a car, only a motorcycle. This wouldn't have been a huge deal if it weren't for the fact that most of the car rental locations in Atlas rented only cars. A few rented mopeds but those barely exceeded 50 kmh and if Yang were to cover large areas, she couldn't do it at those speeds, or at least, with any efficiency. She got lucky with the last place she checked renting all sorts of vehicles, including motorcycles.

Then came the second issue, money. As she quickly learned, bikes were the most expensive to rent, even for short periods of time. The required high deposit fees and the hourly and daily rates were near doubled what a normal vehicle was. Yang debated just going with the moped upon seeing the prices but decided against it, deciding the less time she spent here, the better. She was only here for Weiss, so fast transportation was a must.

So, she reluctantly put the deposit down a similar looking, 2-seater motorcycle. She opted for the basic insurance and 2 helmets just in case Weiss decided to go with her. For now, the second seat was for her bags. Once the paperwork was finalized and she got the keys, Yang quickly looked up the location of the Schnee Manor and sped off. In total, she spent nearly 3 hours renting a motorcycle.

_Gotta make up for lost time _she said to herself as she sped down the roads towards the Schnee Manor, the below-freezing Atlas air biting at all her exposed skin.

After breaking only a few traffic laws, she arrived at the front gate. A fancy white gate with the SDC logo on that gate itself. It sat atop a fancy black brick driveway and off to one side there was a guard shack with a lone guard seated inside. He wore a nearly all white uniform with black and blueish silver accents. He sported the SDC logo in the version of an embroidered badge on his uniform and had what appeared to be a gun sling wrapped around him, although Yang could not see a gun on him. He sat facing Yang, looking at a magazine, but put it down upon hearing the motorcycle stop. He rolled his eyes and mumbled something to himself before tossing the magazine aside, opened the door to the shack, and made a step towards Yang.

"Listen, if you're here to take photos, make them snappy. We can't have you out here all day." He yelled towards Yang.

"Actually, I'm here to speak with Weiss." Yang said, hoping to get an easy pass in.

"Really? In that outfit?" The man asked in a snarky tone. Yang's jaw dropped slightly, and she was about to say something snarkier back, but decided not to, in hopes of maybe getting on this man's good side.

"Yes. In this outfit." Yang replied, keeping her composure.

"Okay then." The man said with a laugh. "What's your name?" He yelled as he turned back to the shack.

"Yang Xiao Long." Yang replied, hoping the man was getting her a badge. A moment later, the man turned back towards Yang, and her heart dropped for the second time today.

"Yeah I don't see your name on this." The man replied, flipped through a stack of papers.

"Well, can't you just…" Yang began.

"If your name isn't here, I can't let you in. That's final." The man said in a stern tone, cutting Yang off. "Now leave."

"Can't you just call up Weiss and say Yang is here. I promise she'll let me in." Yang said, beginning to step closer to the man.

"That's not gonna happen ma'am. Now leave." The man, holding her ground.

"You're really gonna be like that?" Yang replied, beginning to lose her temper.

Suddenly, the man reached behind his back and pulled out an Atlas Military rifle and pointed it at Yang. Shocked, Yang immediately took a step back and raised her hands. "Yes. I am. Now leave." He said, taking a step towards Yang.

Yang debated it for a second. She was a highly trained and skilled huntress. He was a security guard with a rifle. She could easily take him out. It would be over before he could get a shot off. However, if she did, then the chances of meeting Weiss would be zero to none. Plus, she promised Tai that she wouldn't get arrested, and she was surely gonna end up in jail if she attacked.

"Fine." Yang said, keeping her hands up and walking backwards. "I'm sorry I caused you all this trouble." She continued in an angered but understanding voice. She quickly bumped into her rental, turned around and got on, the security guard only lowering his gun when both her hands were on the handlebars and the engine was started. Yang sped off down the road and was quickly out of sight, now in need of a new plan.

Meanwhile, the guard swung the gun back over his shoulder and walked back into the shack. He sat back down in his seat and threw his head back in exhaustion.

"Great. Now I gotta call Whitley." He said to himself, picking up the phone

/

"I have to admit Ms. Schnee, I'm impressed. Your work to end faunas slavery in your mines and proactive approach towards more faunas rights has shifted my view on your company. To think, ten years ago, five years ago, hell, just as recent as three years ago, I was actively seeking to destroy your company. And now here we are, having a nice video chat." The woman said.

"Thank you Ms. Khan. And while I don't fully appreciate you openly talking about destroying my company, I'm willing to let it slide due to the fact that most of your attacks happened while my father was in control of the company. Since then, I've been trying to undo what my father did." Weiss replied.

"And I appreciate all you've done so far, but there is still a ton of work that needs to be done. You may have gotten rid of all the slavery, but there are still a lot of faunas that are permanently scared, both physically and mentally, from the former practice." Sienna said.

"And that's why we're working with those who were hurt to set up free healthcare for however long they need it." Weiss replied professionally.

"What about the families who've lost a family member to the SDC? What are you doing to compensate for them?" Sienna asked.

"I'm not gonna lie to you. I was having some issues thinking of a good way to help them. However, I've reached out to the Belladonna's for help and they are more than happy to help on that front. I believe they even mentioned speaking to you about it. Have you heard anything from them?" Weiss responded, putting the ball in Sienna's court.

"They have, actually. And while me and Ghira aren't quite on speaking terms quite yet, I have had a good conversation catching up with Kali. Speaking of the Belladonna's, didn't you used to be friends with their daughter, Blake?" Sienna said in a snarky tone, catching Weiss completely off guard. She hadn't thought of Blake since… the day everything changed.

"We aren't here to discuss personal matters, Ms. Khan." Weiss responded, trying to hide her surprise.

"I believe quite the contrary. If we are to start working together, I feel as if we need to share more about our personal lives. During her time with us, she was silent but deadly. How was she when you knew her?" Sienna asked, trying to get Weiss to crack.

Right as Weiss was about to say something she shouldn't, the door to her office opened up and Whitley stepped in. He looked at Weiss and signaled that he needed her attention and it was important. She gave a quick nod of approval and turned her attention back towards Sienna.

"I'm deeply sorry Ms. Khan but I have to cut this meeting a bit short, something urgent that needs my attention has come up suddenly. I hope you understand." Weiss said, keeping it professional.

"I understand. You're a busy woman. I just hope we can chat again, hun." Sienna said with a grin.

"I do too. Hope you have a good day. Take care." Weiss said before closing out the video call. "What is it, Whitley?" Weiss said, turning her attention towards her younger brother.

"Was that Sienna Khan?" Whitley asked.

"Yes." Weiss replied, wondering if that was why he interrupted the meeting.

"Why do you keep trying to negotiate with those…" Whitley said.

"Don't say savages. They aren't savages. They are just like me and you, just with different appearances." Weiss said in a snappy tone.

"I was going to say terrorists, but yours sounds more toned down." Whitley said, stepping further into Weiss office and closing the door behind them.

"They aren't… well, uh." Weiss stuttered, causing Whitley to grin. "It doesn't matter what they once were, if we establish good communication with them, then they won't be "terrorists" anymore." Weiss said, unsure of herself.

"You're right. In fact, I can see the headlines now. _Ms. Schnee said terrorists who killed SDC personnel were no longer considered terrorists because they are now good_. That's sure to raise stock prices." Whitley said sarcastically.

_Damn. He's really good at picking apart everything. Although even I don't know what I meant by what I said. _Weiss thought to herself. "What's the reason you came in here?" Weiss asked, changing the subject.

"Well, there was an incident at the gate a few moments ago." Whitley said.

"That's it? That's what you interrupted my meeting with.." Weiss replied, kinda angry.

"Terrorists?" Whitley said, both cutting off Weiss and completing her sentence. Weiss gave him a death glare in return. "And no, that's not it. If that were it, I probably would have never told you. The reason I'm telling you is because the person claimed to personally know you."

"So, a lot of people claim to know me, thinking it's a free pass. What makes them so special?" Weiss asked, beginning to lose interest.

"Well for one, they had to be forced off the premises at gunpoint, and two, I feel like it's a name you might recognize." Whitley said, peeking Weiss' interest.

"Who was it?" Weiss asked, thinking it was probably one of her old Atlas teammates trying to catch up.

"Yang Xiao Long." Whitley said with a straight face. Weiss froze for a moment.

_There's no way it's actually her _Weiss thought to herself, her mind going through a thousand thoughts a second. _It has to be someone else; it can't be THAT Yang. _She tried to convince herself that it wasn't who she thought it was. _It's someone pretending to be Yang to try to get into the manor. Probably some scummy tourist. However…_

"Are you sure that's what she said her name was?" Weiss asked Whitley.

"That's the name the guard gave me." Whitley replied.

"And you said she's not here anymore?" Weiss questioned.

"Yep. She tried to argue her way in and was turned away at gunpoint. The last the guard saw was her driving West down the road." Whitley said, caught off guard by Weiss' reaction. Weiss was silent for a moment before responding.

"Go get that guard and bring him here ASAP. Send one of the other guards to take his place in case she comes back." Weiss said sternly.

"Alright then." Whitley simply responded, before pulling out a radio. "Front gate guard Drew, come in. Ms. Schnee wants to talk to you. Any available gate guard please report to the front gate." He said into the radio. There was a muffled voice on the other end that said something Weiss couldn't make out.

"Come again Drew." Whitley said, which was once again followed by radio chatter. "Yeah?" Whitley responded, sounding unsure. "She's back?" Whitley said in surprise, turning to face Weiss, with an equally surprised look.

After a second Weiss responded. "Well, go get her!" She said with force.

"I'll be down there in five minutes. Keep her there." Whitley responded before hustling out of the room.

/ **Five minutes earlier** /

As Yang got on her rental and sped away, she was at a loss. She had just spent all this time and effort getting here, just to be turned away at gunpoint before even seeing Weiss. It hurt to say the least. She always had the thought Weiss wouldn't join her, but this wasn't the way she thought she was going to be turned down.

_There has to be some way to get to Weiss _Yang thought as she pulled off to the side of the road. Once stopped, she kicked out the kickstand and stood straight up, still straddling the bike. She took off her helmet and set it on the handlebars, before pushing the hair out of her face. _Come on Yang, think. There has to be some way to get to Weiss. You've shown up to her place, you've called her, you've… wait! _Yang realized she hadn't ever called Weiss. She thought about it but got distracted and never followed through.

"It's a long shot but it just might work." She said to herself, pulling out her scroll. She quickly found Weiss' name in her contacts and tapped on it, bringing up a menu of options, the first one being call. Yang's finger hovered over the call button, pondering it for a second.

_Just do it. _One side of her said_. It's your only chance._

_Don't do it. _The other side responded_. Just accept defeat on this one._

_You need to know. You can't just give up._

_You saw what happened, she doesn't want anything to do with you._

This war between one side and the other battled on for a few seconds before she came to a compromise. Instead of calling Weiss, she would just text her instead. It might not be as effective, but it was still worth the shot. Yang's finger quickly moved down the second option, text, and then typed out a short message before hitting send.

**Hey, Weiss, :)**

Yang sat there for a moment, awaiting a response like a teenager texting his crush for the first time. She didn't move, just stared at the screen. After about a minute, her impatiens got the better of her and she sent out a second message.

**Wassup Ice Queen**

This one sounded more like Beacon Yang and was sure to get her attention. Or at least, that was the plan. However, after about a minute or two of waiting, Yang once again grew impatient at the lack of response or even the fact the messages hadn't even been opened. Yang had thought that if the number had been changed, this new person would have at least responded by now.

Yang was now faced with a new dilemma, either she could wait for Weiss or whoever she just texted to respond, or… She could go back to this guard and try to convince him that she did actually know Weiss and use the phone number as proof. If the text was a long shot, this was a hail Mary. Yang knew that this encounter would probably end the same way, maybe even get her arrested. It could end any real chance of getting to Weiss and probably end her adventure to find her sister before she even started looking.

Yang sighed. "Fuck it." She said, throwing her scroll in her pocket, kicking the kickstand back up, and quickly putting on her helmet. She threw the bike into drive and spun the rear wheel and turned the bike around, leaving a half crescent skid mark on the pavement. Facing the other way, she gunned it and sped off back towards the front gate.

The sound of an approaching motorcycle followed by a loud, abrupt screeching sound caused the guard to look up from his magazine. In front of him once again was the same long-haired blonde who he chased off less than five minutes ago, standing next to her bike at the end of the driveway.

"Motherfucker." He said to himself as he threw the magazine down and swung his rifle around. He kept it ready at his side as he opened the door to the one room shack. "Hey! I thought I told you to leave!" He yelled at Yang.

Yang quickly got off her motorcycle, scroll in hand and made a few steps towards the man, her hands in the air. "Listen dude, I know you don't like me but hear me out: I have Weiss' number and I just texted her. I know that sounds crazy but all I want is for you to look at the number. I promise you it's her." Yang said.

"Like I'm going to do anything for you!" He yelled back. "Now get on your bike a scram."

"I'm not leaving without talking to Weiss. Look, I'll put my scroll down right here…" Yang began as she lowered her arms to put the scroll on the ground.

"Keep your hands where I can see them!" The man yelled, raising his rifle, and pointing it at Yang, who froze briefly.

"You could see them the whole time but okay." Yang said to herself, standing back up straight. "Listen dude, I just wanna speak with Weiss, even if it's right here." Yang said to the guard.

"You're not speaking with her, now leave!" He yelled, taking a few steps forward, keeping the gun trained on Yang's head.

"Don't come closer, dude. I don't want to fight you and promise me, you don't either. But if you stick that thing in my face, I will break it." Yang said, readying her gauntlets.

The man stopped but kept his aim. Yang meanwhile stood perfectly still with her arms still raised. The man had a serious and annoyed look on his face and Yang could tell he was debating internally whether or not to shoot her. Yang knew that if he shot her, then she would have to defend herself. She also knew that if she defended herself, she would end up on the first airship back home without ever speaking with Weiss. Or maybe, the commotion would force Weiss to see what was happening and she could talk with her then. Probably wouldn't go in her favor but hey, it would be worth a shot, literally.

As Yang watched the man's face contort and changed ever so subtly, she also noticed his finger was dancing on the trigger. From this and her time as a huntress, Yang could easily conclude he was trigger happy but at the same time was trying to suppress that urge for what was the right course of actions. Still, Yang curled her hands into a fist, causing the small gauntlets on her arm to extend a small bit, basically putting them in a ready position. It was a modification that Yang included a few years back to add a layer of stealth to her loud weapons. When she curled her hands into fists, the gauntlets would extend from small, watch sized bracelets to about the size they were back at Beacon. If she went to throw a punch, the gauntlets would extend to their full size. However, she Yang uncurled her fists, they would retract back to their default, watch sized bracelets.

As both parties prepared for the inevitable fight, the man's radio on his shoulder suddenly came to life, surprising both of them. Yang was too far away from the radio to hear it, but the man seemed put off by the messages.

"That's a no-can-do, sir. I have a situation down here." The man said into the radio. There was a brief message that came through the radio. "Remember that girl from like five minutes ago?" The man said into the radio, causing Yang to react with curiosity. There was a brief pause for an answer that Yang couldn't make out. "Well, she's back." The man said, once again piquing her interest. There was a brief silence from the radio before it lit up again.

Once the radio went silent, the man looked up at Yang, before lowering his weapon. "Fuck!" He said, looking even more angry and annoyed than before. "Stay there, don't move!" He said, pointing at Yang before walking back into the shack and slamming the door shut.

"Oooo-kay…" Yang said to herself, lowering her hands. Confused, Yang took a few steps back and leaned against her bike, unsure of the whole scenario. She looked at the texts she sent and saw that they were still unopened. _There's no way Weiss is causing this. She hasn't even opened my messages. Unless that guard told her something was up. But it's only been a few minutes tops. There's no way he already told Weiss. He probably is just bluffing, and the Atlas police are on their way. I should probably leave. _Yang thought to herself.

Concluding that she was about to be arrested, Yang tried to subtly get on her bike and leave. She made small movements so as to not alert the guard at the gate. Without looking his way, she slowly but steadily got on her rental, grabbed her helmet, and made sure she wasn't going to leave anything. Once Yang made sure all her things were accounted for, she turned back towards the guard shack to make sure the man wasn't looking at her. However, instead of just seeing the man, she was surprised to see the gate opening and a black limo with an SDC logo hood ornament pulling through towards Yang. Normally, this would be her ticket to leave, but now she was intrigued and decided to at least see what was happening.

The limo moved slightly towards the left of Yang before beginning to make a U-turn right in front of Yang. She moved slightly to the right out of the way, allowing the car to complete its turn. As the driver side rear door swung around toward Yang, the car stopped, and the window rolled down. Inside, a prim and properly dressed young man with white hair and light blue eyes appeared from behind the window.

"Are you Yang Xiao Long?" He asked, sounding both professional and snarky.

"Uhm, yeah. I am." Yang responded, now more confused at the scene playing out in front of her.

"Come sit. Ms. Schnee requests you." The man said, gesturing towards a seat in the limo.

Yang was shocked at what she just heard. _Did Weiss actually know I was coming? Did she look at the texts? Was she watching right now? _Yang had a thousand thoughts running through her head, but she quickly snapped back to reality.

"What about my bike? It's a rental and I don't want to lose it." Yang asked.

"Just park it behind the guard shack. Now come, Ms. Schnee is a busy woman." He replied, trying to hustle along.

"Alright then. Let me park this really quick." Yang said, rolling her eyes once she was no longer looking at the man. She kicked up the kickstand and walked past the guard shack, the limo followed close behind her. In her younger years, she would have probably gloated in some small way towards the security guard to prove she was right, but now that she was older, she would rather not cause any more trouble. Plus, she wasn't even sure if this was what she wanted to happen.

Once the bike was parked, Yang got into the limo, sitting perpendicular to the man, who sat in the very back. The inside of the limo was way fancier than Yang was expecting, complete with what seemed like both a mini fridge and bar opposite to Yang. She thought about grabbing a drink but decided against it as she was still a bit unsure of the situation and she didn't want to cause a scene.

The sound of the man's scroll going off grabbed Yang's attention. He looked down at the caller and quickly answered it.

"Yes sister?" He said, before a brief pause ensued. "Yes I got Yang." He replied to what Yang could accurately guess was a question. "What does she look like?" He asked, almost as if he was a bit thrown off by the nature of the question. "Well, average height, long blonde hair…" He paused. "Busty/thick in areas." He concluded. Yang shot him a glare at the answer he gave. In response, Whitley placed his hand over the speaker and said, "Don't get your hopes up, honey. You're not my type." In a snarky, pretentious voice. This only made Yang more irate but she kept her feelings to herself.

"Yes, I'll send her right up. Goodbye sis." Whitley said before hanging up the call. "I'm Whitley Schnee by the way. The COO of the Schnee Dust Company. I hear you're here to see Weiss, is that correct?"

"Yeah. I just need to ask her a few questions." Yang replied, only half paying attention to Whitley. She was distracted by the lavish, luxurious limo they were riding in and the view of the enormous, well-manicured lawn. Because it was mid-January in Atlas, there was a thin blanket of snow that covered the ground.

"Might I ask how you know my sister?" Whitley asked.

"She's an old friend." Yang replied, purposely keeping it vague because even though she was trying to be professional and courteous, she didn't trust Whitley and didn't want to reveal too much of her plan to him.

"It would appear so. She asked for you when she heard your name." Whitley said. Just then, Whitley's scroll rang, and he quickly picked it up. An argument quickly ensued, which Yang tuned out, now focusing entirely on the landscape in front of her. It was quite the polar opposite to what she was dealing with. While she had a small house off a dirt road, Weiss had what appeared to be hundreds of acres of private, well protected forest, complete with a paved road that Yang could only guess was probably heated in some way to protect against the cold.

"We're here." Whitley said, pulling Yang out of her trance. She turned back to him to see he had finished his call and was now gesturing back out the window. Yang turned back around and was blown away by what she saw. The paved road split in two, with a large fountain area, complete with three white marble pedestals, each of them adoring the SCD logo. Just beyond that was the Schnee Manor, A house that put some of the villages Yang had visited to shame. It seemed to go on for miles on either side and just the grand entrance was enough to make Yang feel small.

The limo came to a stop, and Yang went to reach for the door, only for a butler to open it for them. It was only then that Whitley began to leave the vehicle, something that Yang attributed both to his attitude and the way he was raised. Upon leaving, Whitley didn't even acknowledge the butler, another thing Yang counted against him. Yang exited the vehicle shortly after, thanking the butler and the driver on the way out before catching up to Whitley, who was standing in front of the large front doors.

With a smirk, Whitley opened the front door, revealing the grandiose front entrance. Upon entering, Yang was met with two, thirteen-meter-high statues of knights holding eight-meter-high swords at rest. They stood guarding a large, white marble staircase that appeared to be as wide as it was tall. There was a blue carpet that ran down the center of the staircase that covered roughly 80% of its width. The large vaulted ceilings stood nearly twenty-meter-high and rivaled those at the Beacon cafeteria in style.

To put it in a sentence, Yang was in awe. She had never imagined that one person or one family who have both the space and the money to do something like this, and yet, here it was. You could fit Yang's entire house in just the front entrance. And yet, Whitley just stood there, a smirk on his face.

"Weiss' office is this way, follow me." He said, snapping Yang out of her trance. She quickly followed him as he led her up the stairs and to the left. The second-floor hallway led away from the grand entrance and seemed to go on for a while. They soon passed by a dining room that seemed like it was more for show than for actual meals, and then a small room that held a grand piano and a few leather sofa's that Yang could only conclude to be an entertainment room. As they continued down the hallway, Yang realized that everything was colored in either white, grey, and/or pale blue. There was no splash or red or a dabble of white, just those three. And to put it simply, it was off-putting.

As the hallway took a 90 degree turn to the right, Yang immediately took notice of how bland everything became. Not in the sense of it was no longer fancy, but in the fact that the fanciness seemed to just be repeating. This corridor was roughly 100 meters long but was nearly completely void of any decorations besides the large, white pillars that were stationed every three meters. Sure, there were large, fancy paintings of what Yang could assume was the Schnee family in between each pillar, but besides that, there was the occasional chair or table, and that was it.

The two walked in silence down the long corridor, Yang wondering where Whitley was leading her. In fact, she was beginning to wonder if Whitley was lying to her and she wasn't going to meet Weiss at all. That maybe, he was just gonna lead her on for a while before kicking her out, because that's something rich people do. Or at least, that's something Yang thought they might do.

"And we're here." Whitley said, stopping abruptly. Surprised, Yang looked around until she laid eyes upon a very unassuming wooden door. She hadn't recalled seeing any other door along the entire corridor and was now seriously doubting the legitimacy of this whole "meeting Weiss" thing. In fact, Yang was nearly 100% certain Whitley just led her to a supply closet as a prank.

"Well, do you want to meet her or not?" He asked, seeming growing impatient very quickly. Yang shot him a look but walked over to the door. As she reached for the doorknob with her right arm, she kept her left arm ready in case Whitley decided to jump her or push her in or something. As she grabbed a hold of the doorknob, she decided to just throw it open.

Right before throwing it open, she shot Whitley a look, who appeared to be growing even more impatient. Yang noted that she would knock the smug off his face when she opened the door. With one quick turn of the doorknob, she practically threw the oak door off its hinges, fully expecting to see a tiny room full of brooms and mops. Instead, she was met with a decently sized room, floor to ceiling bookshelves on two sides, filled completely with books, photo frames, and awards. There were luxurious black leather chairs spread across the room, with just as fancy glass tables between them. On the far end, there was a large oak table that sat over the room, a couple small steps in front of it. Along the back wall, there were three paintings, each a painting of a different person, two males and a female.

As Yang looked around the room, they eventually landed on who she had been hoping to see. Standing directly behind the leather chairs was a young woman in her late twenties. She wore what appeared to be a business casual suit, complete with whitish-grey slacks, a light-blue corset, and a white over coat, held together by a singular belt in the front. Her hair was shorter than Yang remembered, only reaching down to her shoulders. It had a mini side braid in the front offset to the left. As their eyes met, Yang could tell Weiss was just as surprised and shocked as she was. Neither of them moved or said a word, both wondering if they were dreaming.

"I'll leave you two alone. Just call me if you need me sis." Whitley said, breaking the silence. He shot Yang another smirk before closing the door and leaving. This left the two women in the room by themselves. It was quiet for a second before Weiss spoke up.

"Ms. Xiao Long. It's good to see you..." Weiss began, trying to be professional and courteous. She was interrupted however when Yang vaulted over the table in the middle of the room and borderline tackled Weiss with a hug. The move caught Weiss off-guard, causing her to stubble backwards into her desk. After regaining her balance, she returned the hug and the two once again fell silent.

"You can just call me Yang you know?" Yang said after a few seconds. Following that, she broke up the embrace and took a step back. "Look at you. All prim and proper yet prepared for business stuff."

"Thanks, Yang. Good to see you too. How have you been?" Weiss responded.

Yang thought upon it for a second. Had this meeting been under normal circumstances, the answer would have been an easy 'good'. But this wasn't normal circumstances, this was under some stressful circumstances. She debated telling her right then and there what was up, but by the way she was acting, Yang could tell something was up.

"Things… have been better." Yang responded after a second. "How about yourself?"

Weiss paused for a moment. "About the same as you." She eventually replied. "Running a company, especially of this size and magnitude is incredibly stressful. Here take a seat." Weiss said, gesturing towards the leather chairs.

"Yeah, I can imagine. I thought your dad ran the company." Yang said, taking a seat in one of the chairs.

"He did. Until about five years ago." Weiss replied, taking a seat in the other one across from Yang.

"Oh? What happened? Was there a coup d'état brought on by you, overthrowing your father and allowing you to take full control?" Yang asked, making sound dramatic and exciting.

"No. He died of a stroke." Weiss replied bluntly, grabbing a full bottle of wine from under the chair.

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear…" Yang said, beginning to apologize, wondering where the bottle came from.

"Don't be. He was an asshole. He only married my mom for the money. I'm shocked he wasn't assassinated before then. I just wish he had left the company in a better state. I've spent the last five years just repairing the damages he did." Weiss interrupted, occasionally taking sips of wine straight from the bottle.

"Are you… okay?" Yang asked, beginning to worry.

"To be frank, no. I'm up to my eyes in issues my father caused. My brother doesn't like the way I run things and wants to go back to my father's methods. My sister and mom are just out of the picture entirely, and I don't blame them. I've got tens of thousands of former workers angry at the company just for existing, plus an entire faunas terrorist organization just waiting for a slip-up so they can go after me. I receive hundreds of death threats every day both from social media and letters mailed to my door." Weiss said, beginning to take longer sips from the bottle.

"I'm… sorry to hear that…" Yang replied, unsure of what to do.

Weiss sighed. "No, I'm sorry. You came here to catch up and I just dumped my personal problems on you." Weiss said, putting down the bottle. "It's just, I don't have a lot of people to vent. In fact, you're one of the few people I can actually trust in this world. The only other person I can think of is my sister. But enough about me, what's been going on with you?" Weiss asked.

"Life's been good to me given the circumstances, especially in the last few years." Yang answered.

"Well, that makes one of us." Weiss replied, taking another sip. "Did you know that I completed my huntress training at Atlas but never got to use it because my asshole dad died and left me with this shit?" Weiss continued, beginning to sound slightly drunk.

"How much have you had to drink today?" Yang asked.

Weiss looked at the freshly opened bottle in her hand, noting that she had already drank about a quarter of it. "One and a quarter bottles." She replied with a smile.

Yang shook her head. "Weiss, I didn't come here to catch up while you drank. I came to ask for a favor. A big one. But if you're just gonna drink, I'll just leave.

Weiss let out a heavy sigh, threw her head back, and took a big swig. "I don't usually hand out money, but if you need a couple thousand, I guess I can throw some your way." Weiss said, sounding defeated.

"What.. No. I'm not here for your money, Weiss." Yang replied, beginning to become angry.

"Are you sure? I'm fairly sure that's what favor means." Weiss replied, antagonizing Yang before beginning to take another sip. In response, Yang climbed over the table, grabbed a hold of Weiss with one hand and the bottle of wine with the other. She yanked the bottle out of Weiss' grip and tossed it across the room. It shattered against the oak door and the red win exploded outwards. Weiss angrily looked at Yang's whose eyes were now a blood red.

The two stared into each other eyes, both filled with hatred and anger towards the other for a few moments before Yang let out a heavy sigh, closed her eyes, let go of Weiss and sat back in her chair. Once seated again, Yang put her hands in her head as her sudden outburst of emotion hit her. _I probably just fucked my only chance to get Weiss on my side. She's probably gonna call security and I'll never speak to her again. Might be for the best though. _she thought to herself.

The sound of a fresh bottle of wine being opened puller her attention back to Weiss. She had another bottle of wine in her lap, pulled from an unknown location. One hand held the neck of the bottle while the other loosely held the cap. Yang shot Weiss a glare, who responded with a scarier one.

"You're gonna tell me your favor, and this bottle of wine represents the answer. If I agree with it, I'll put the bottle down and listen. If I don't, then I'm going to continue drinking, and you can leave. You know the way out. Proceed." Weiss said assertively.

"I would like your assistance in finding Ruby." Yang said bluntly. The room fell silent as neither party moved a muscle. Weiss kept a firm grip on the bottle of wine while Yang awaited an answer.

"Well?" Yang asked after a moment.

"Hang on I'm trying to figure out how drunk you are." Weiss replied.

"Oh my Ohm." Yang said with a heavy sigh.

"No, I'm being serious because there's no way you're sober right now." Weiss said. Yang didn't respond as she slumped into her seat while Weiss remained still in hers, he hand still on the bottle Neither of them spoke as Yang came to the realization that this trip was probably pointless.

"What do you need from me?" Weiss asked after a moment.

"What do I need from you?" Yang repeated. Weiss simply nodded. "I just wanted to see if you wanted to join in. It would be nice to have some company on this trip. I don't know how long it will take and I know you're busy, but I thought it was worth the trip out to see." Yang answered truthfully. She truly didn't need Weiss to come along and help, she could do it by herself in all reality. But the company would be nice.

"Alright, that's good enough for me." Weiss said, putting down the bottle. "On one condition though." Weiss added, pointing a finger at Yang.

"Uhm, what is it?" Yang asked, surprised at the quick response.

"I want to find Blake too." Weiss said. The name sent a jolt through Yang's body. She hadn't even thought about going after Blake. While she hadn't done anything direct to Ruby, Yang still had hatred towards her for being a part of the scheme.

"I guess we could try. I don't have any info on her though." Yang responded.

"And you have info on Ruby?" Weiss said, raising an eyebrow.

"My dad does. He's been loosely following her movements through confirmed sightings over the years."

Weiss shrugged. "Works for me. Let's go see him." Weiss said as he headed towards the door.

"Hang on a sec." Yang said, putting her hands out in front of Weiss to stop her. "You're ready to go, just like that?" She asked, confused at how ready Weiss was.

"Well I gotta change first but yeah." Weiss replied.

"What about running the company?" Yang questioned.

"I can do most of it from my phone, I'll just text Whitley to have all my meetings cancelled for the foreseeable future and tell all the clients that I'll be out of office for a bit. If anyone has a problem, they can take it up with Whitley, he knows what he's doing." Weiss replied, a smile beginning to grow across her face.

"That sounds kinda irresponsible." Yang said.

"Yang, I haven't taken a vacation since I became the CEO of this company and you just waltzed into my office and asked me if I wanted to go find a long-lost friend who I haven't seen in nearly a decade. It may not be a beach getaway, but I'll take anything at this point. Plus, I can be a huntress again, which is way more fun than being a CEO."

"Well alright then. I guess I'll wait here while you go change." Yang said, raising her hands up.

"Thank you." Weiss said with a smile before leaving the room. Once she had left, Yang took a seat on the nearest chair and thought about the events that just transpired.

_So Weiss is an involuntary workaholic, borderline alcoholic, who wants to come with me because it will get her out of work for a bit? Sounds like this is gonna be an adventure in more ways than one. I just hope she doesn't get drunk every night or I'm going to regret coming here real fast._

Yang then turned her attention back to the room she was in. While she had been in the room for a while, she hadn't gotten a chance to really look around. The first thing that caught her eyes were the three large paintings at the back of the room behind the desk. In the middle was a painting of Weiss, seeming to have been painted not too long ago since she looked mostly the same. On her left was a painting of a man that Yang could guess was Weiss' dad. He looked familiar, like Yang had seen him on TV before, but she had never heard his name. Then, on the right, was a painting of another man, this one looking older than the other two, both in the age of the man and the age of the painting. Like the other man, Yang swore the man looked vaguely familiar but couldn't put a name to him.

Just then, Yang heard the door open and turned her attention to that. Standing in the doorway, Weiss had donned a completely different outfit. She wore a long, flowing dress that tapered off at the rear. It slowly faded from white to blue, top to bottom. Over top of it was a white corset with light blue laces and a royal blue bolero. Underneath the dress, she wore what looked to be business style slacks that were tucked into mid-calf boots which, in contrast to the rest of her outfit, had red laces and dark red soles. Accompanying her were two suitcase style cases, both making Weiss' color scheme.

"You look, fancy." Yang remarked.

"Thank you, I'll take that as a compliment." Weiss responded. "Shall we leave?"

"We shall." Yang said as she stood up and headed left the room. Weiss took the lead as they walked down the bland hallways and past the fancy rooms until they reached the grand entrance. At that point, Weiss spoke up.

"Where to first?" She asked as she walked down the stairs.

"Well, I would like to go back to my house to pick up my motorcycle, so I don't have to use the rental I have." Yang said.

"Why don't you have a car?" Weiss asked, a bit confused.

"Because I only have a motorcycle license." Yang mentioned

"Are they not interchangeable?" Weiss questioned as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"I'm guessing you don't drive." Yang remarked.

Weiss tried formulating a response but quickly gave up because she knew Yang was right. "So we're taking your rental to where?" She asked.

"I mean, if we're going back to my house, I have to drop it off at the rental place. I probably could get my money back since I only had it a few hours." Yang said as they got to the large front doors.

"Alright then. Let's go." Weiss said, opening the front door, where they were met with a limo parked out front. "Where's your bike?" She asked.

"At the front gate." Yang said, pointing down the road. Weiss let out a sigh and out her head in her right hand.

"You're telling me we have to take a limo, just to get your bike?" Weiss said, her voice muffled as she spoke into her hand.

"We don't have to take a limo; we can just walk it." Yang said with an unsure smile.

"I am not walking a mile down my driveway in January." Weiss said, her voice still muffled.

"Your driveway is a mile?!" Yang said in shock.

"Yeah, it is. Now get in." Weiss said, finally raising her head out of her hand and approaching the vehicle. The driver opened the door for Weiss and Yang as they got in before closing it behind them. The drive was quick and silent as Weiss texted business partners about her vacation and Yang looked out the window. When they got to the gate, the limo came to a stop and Weiss and Yang both hoped out without the drivers help.

As Yang retrieved her bike from behind the guard shack, she was relieved to see a different man on guard. They acknowledged each other as Weiss stood on the other side of the road, shivering.

"I thought you were born and raised in Atlas, how are you cold?" Yang said with a small chuckle.

"I was born and raised in a mansion that was kept at 78 degrees. Not whatever the fuck this temperature is." Weiss said, slightly upset and still tipsy.

"Well, it's about to be a bit colder." Yang said as she started up the bike. "Here, put this on." She said, tossing Weiss the extra helmet. "It's a full face one so it should keep your face somewhat warm." She continued as she slipped hers on. Weiss slipped it on as she approached the bike.

"How do I ride this thing?" She yelled through the helmet and over the sound of the bike. Yang simply responded by slapping the seat behind hers. Weiss reluctantly got onto it, struggling a bit as she did so.

"Are you on it?" Yang said loudly.

"Just about." Weiss replied, still struggling to find her balance.

"Once you're on it, put your feet on those pegs directly below your seat and embrace me like your snuggling up with me for the night." Yang explained.

"Uh… okay?" Weiss said, questioning the logic but not arguing it. She quickly found the pegs and planted her feet on them, which caused her to lean forward a bit. With that part complete, she did as Yang said and snuggled up to her, her hand gripping onto Yang's waist.

"Good." Yang remarked. "However, it's better if you wrap your arms around my stomach like this:" She continued before moving Weiss' arms up to her stomach. Weiss blushed at the embrace she was now in but quickly molded into in, mainly in part to Yang's radiant warmth.

"Holy shit Yang. You're so fucking warm." Weiss said, quickly growing to like it.

"I know I am." She responded before signaling the guard to open it up. He acknowledged and the gate slid open. Once it was about 75% open, Yang twisted the handlebars and the bike kicked into life, quickly speeding down the road towards downtown Atlas.


End file.
